Alsager Archaeological Assessment
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CHESHIRE HISTORIC TOWNS SURVEY Alsager Archaeological Assessment 2003 CHESHIRE HISTORIC TOWNS SURVEY Alsager Archaeological Assessment 2003 Environmental Planning Cheshire County Council Backford Hall Backford Chester CH1 6PZ Front cover : J Cowley, 1744 An Improved Map of Cheshire, Containing the Borough and Market Towns, with those adjoining; also its Principal Roads and Rivers Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies, PM 2/20. ALSAGER ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT Vince Devine & Jo Clark 1. SUMMARY In the medieval and post medieval periods Alsager was a small, dispersed rural township. However, this was set to change in the mid-19th century with the arrival of the railway, which sparked a new era of prosperity for the town. Alsager became an attractive residential area and as new houses were constructed a settlement core began to develop in the vicinity of the Sandbach Road South. 1.1 Topography and Geology Alsager lies on the slope of a hill, c 76m AOD in the southwest of the town, rising to 107m AOD in the northeast. It is situated in south-west Cheshire, 8km to the east of Crewe and close to the Staffordshire border, in the undulating foothills of the Pennines. There is a small body of water located within the town called ‘The Mere’. The underlying solid geology is a mixture of Bollin Maidstone Formation and Northwich Halite Formation, above which are fluvio-glacial deposits (Geological Survey of Great Britain 1953). The soils of the surrounding area are of a mixed nature. To the north-west are sandy gleys, which are suited to mixed arable and grassland (graded classes 2-3). To the north-east are brown sands, which are also suited to mixed arable and grassland (graded classes 2-3), along with typical stagnogley soils, which are ideally suited to grassland (graded class 3). To the south are stagnogleyic argillic brown earths, which are ideal for permanent grassland (graded class 3) (Furness, 1978). The A50 runs to the east of Alsager through Church Lawton, a major road that connects Knutsford and the Potteries and has been important from at least the 18th century. The B5077 runs through Alsager to Crewe, and the B5078 runs north through the town to connect with the A533. The Trent and Mersey Canal runs northwest-southeast 1.5km to the north of Alsager. 1.2 Administrative Unit In the 13th century, the Hundred of Middlewich was reorganised and the focus was shifted from Middlewich to Northwich. As part of this reorganisation Alsager, which had previously been included in Middlewich Hundred was included in Nantwich Hundred (Dodgson 1971, 3). The township lay in the Deanery of Nantwich and the ancient parish of Alsager in Bartholomey until 1852 when Alsager became a separate parish (Dunn 1987, 10). The modern township is a Civil Parish in the Borough of Congleton. Cheshire Historic Towns Survey 1 © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2003 1.3 Place Name Alsager is first recorded in 1086 as Eleacier, meaning Aelle’s plot of arable land. Other spelling variations include: Alsacher (1289), Alsecher (1360), Alsiger (1598) (Dodgson 1971, 2) 2 SOURCES 2.1 Historical There are few sources available for the study of Alsager’s history. Manorial and ecclesiastical histories are contained in Ormerod’s History of Cheshire (1882), and useful information is contained in 19th-century trade directories (for example, Bagshaw 1850). There are a number of primary sources in the County Record Office (CRO), including a grant of land from 1338 and a marriage settlement of 1572. There are also other documents which date from the 16th to the 19th centuries, however time has not allowed for their consultation. 2.2 Cartographic Alsager is not depicted on Saxton’s county map of 1577, but it is identified as Alsacher on Speed’s map of 1610. Burdett’s county map of 1777 provides the earliest available schematic plan of the settlement and the local road network. Detailed surveys of the town are provided by the tithe map of 1840 and Ordnance Survey (OS) First Edition 6”: 1 mile map, surveyed 1873-4. 2.3 Archaeological Before the present assessment there were five records within the settled area of Alsager in the County Sites and Monuments Record (CSMR), which are identified on Figure 1. This includes two prehistoric finds (CSMR 2710 and CSMR 135), an undated cropmark (CSMR 1137) and two Listed Buildings (CSMR 1168, CSMR 1169/1). Throughout this document the relevant reference is provided for any records that have been identified from the CSMR. The present survey has generated seven new records. No archaeological work has been carried out in Alsager. 3 HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SUMMARY 3.1 Prehistoric Within the surrounding area, a handful of prehistoric sites and finds are known. Prehistoric flints were discovered 0.5km to the west of Alsager at White Moss (CSMR 213); directly south-east of Alsager a Bronze Age stone axe was discovered (CSMR 135), and immediately to the east of the town at Church Lawton are three Bronze Age burial mounds (CSMR 133/1/1, 133/1/2, 133/1/3). However, the only recorded prehistoric finds within Alsager itself are Cheshire Historic Towns Survey © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2003 Bronze Age flints which were discovered on the northern edge of the settlement, at a school on Woodside Avenue (CSMR 2710). 3.2 Roman King Street Roman road (CSMR 436/1/10), runs 0.5km to the north-east of the modern town. However, no Roman sites or finds are recorded in Alsager. 3.3 Early Medieval There are no recorded early medieval finds or sites in Alsager or within the surrounding area. However, a small settlement was recorded at Domesday, the location of which is unknown. The Domesday Survey records that: ‘The same earl holds ELEACIER [Alsager in Bartholomey]. Wulfric (Ulvric), a free man, held it. There [is] ½ hide that pays geld. The land is for 1 plough. It is waste. T.R.E. it was worth 3s.’ (Harris and Thacker 1987, 348). 3.4 Medieval 3.4.1 The Manor Upon the division of the Barony of Nantwich, the manor appears to have been allotted to the Vernon family. In 1245-46 Sir Ralph Vernon granted two-thirds of the manor to Michael de Muneshall. The manor eventually passed to the Alsacher family, possibly in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272), who held the lordship until the modern period (Ormerod 1882, 320-1). 3.4.2 Settlement There are numerous references to land transactions in Alsager during the medieval period including in the reign of Edward I ( 1272-1307) ‘...two messuages, two carucates, 80 acres of waste, [and] four of meadow’ (Ormerod 1882, 321). In 1302-7 an assart (clearing of woodland) was recorded (ibid, 321). Unfortunately, these references do not provide information as to the location and extent of medieval Alsager. 3.4.3 Economy Data for Cheshire towns is rare because in the medieval period the shire was exempt from national taxation, having its own taxation system, the Mize. In the Cheshire Mize (taxation) of 1405, Alsager paid 33s 4d, an average sum in the Wicus Malbanus hundred. For example, Church Coppenhall paid 26s 8d, Stapeley 33s 4d and Wybunbury 33s 4d (Booth 1985). Agriculture was no doubt an important aspect of the town’s economy and the tithe map of 1840 shows a small number of long, narrow fields with s-shaped Cheshire Historic Towns Survey © Cheshire County Council and English Heritage 2003 (aratral) boundaries that are typical of enclosed open fields. There are no recorded markets or fairs at Alsager and there are few references to suggest what economic activities took place at Alsager. However, it is likely that the Mere provided a useful source for fish and in 1316-17 Hugh Smith of Hatteshall was granted a Licence to get ‘turves in the libertes of Alsager’ (Ormerod 1882, 321). 3.4.4 Religion Alsager did not have a church during the medieval period. 3.4.5 The Surrounding Area There are a number of medieval sites and monuments in the surrounding area, including the site of the 14th century Rode water mill, 3km northeast of Alsager (CSMR 140) and in addition there are two moated sites: one at Hassall 2km north-west of Alsager (CSMR 1133), and the other near Oak Farm, 1.5km to the south of the town (CSMR 1108). 3.5 Post-Medieval 3.5.1 The Manor The manor was held by the Alsagers of Alsager Hall throughout the post medieval period (Ormerod 1882, 323). In 1768, the manor and hall were inherited by John Alsager’s three sisters and coheiresses (Bagshaw 1850, 363). 3.5.2 Settlement In 1821 the census figures recorded 66 houses in the chapelry, a figure rising to 87 by 1841. This expansion was encouraged in the mid-19th century by the provision of a rail service by the North Staffordshire Railway Company, which linked Alsager with the Potteries. Indeed, it is recorded that after the 1860s Alsager became ‘...a favourite place of residence for gentlemen connected with the Staffordshire Potteries, and during the last few years numerous villa residences have been erected and occupied by them’ (Morris and Co 1874, 101). A school was also built by the Alsager sisters; on land that had been enclosed from waste, that could accommodate 275 children and included a master’s house, both of which were designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott (Ormerod 1882, 324). The Central School was built in 1885 at the cost of £1, 514 (Kelly 1914, 31). 3.5.3 Economy The 1821 census recorded that thirty five of the families in the Alsager Chapelry were primarily employed in agriculture, which was half of the total number of families in the Chapelry.